Im currently unsure which Quad to go for, 82l or 87l.
I weigh around 82kg, 180cm. I want the board to cover the following conditions:
- I only want to have one waveboard
- sails used are mostly 4.5 and 5.3 (and occassionaly 3.7)
- the board should replace a Tabou Pocket Wave 78... I want something that gives me a bit more volume so that I can get out without neccessarily planning, but at the same time feels small and responsive...Pocket Wave is an amazing board but in lighter winds it just doesnt have enough volume for me to get out and go upwind enough (esp with a 5.3m sail, it has to be well powered up to work well, once the 5.3 is underpowered it doesnt work at all)..
- generally speaking I like to sail slightly underpowered and I would like to be able to do that with the 5.3m also
- I want to use the board mostly in Holland, in side to side-on conditions and on Fuerteventura and Cape Verde

at the moment I am more inclined to go for the 82l Quad, because 87l sounds awfully big and wide to me.
also, I have the feelling that given its shape, the Starboard Quad range seems to compare to a 1 size bigger quads from other brands... ie Quad 82 is in the same "size class" with Da Curve 85 and Fanatic quad 86... can anyone confirm or reject this please?

does the Quad feel larger then it actually is in terms of stability, early planning, and non-planning upwind ability?

Yeah, I think 82 too. My own 82 has been used a lot by a 85 kilo friend of mine and he seems very happy with it also in lighter winds. Only with underpowered 5.6 he complained, but then it was mostly a matter of the board feeling under finned. I reckon that if you spend some extra on a set of 15cm quad fins you will get a more "poppy" feel and better underpowered upwind with underpowered 5.3.

Regarding "feel of size" yes the 2011 Quads do feel a bit bigger then the size indicted, particularly compared to some other quads and twins on the market. But they still feel a bit smaller then last years boards (partly due to less fin area, I'd say). For example, I think the Quad82 will EASILY feel as big as the Fanatic q86 and probably even feel much more stable in light winds. This is due to some more width and a flatter deck. Boards with a lot of volume added along the centerline tend to rather get more unstable in light winds and unless you are really standing absolutely still and sinking such volume in my opinion only hurt the slogging performance.

So in summary: I'm quite sure the 82 will the THE size for you in the Starboard quad range. I know from my friends sailing it works well in light wind underpowered sailing at your weight and he thinks it feel very stable and easy and also early planing also without that much sail power (much more so than the Quatro quad 85 he had before fx). And if you add a set of bigger fins you will be able to improve upwind and planing even more, particularly with a full 5.3.

I'm the same size as you are and have sailed the Q82 in everything from light, non planing conditions, to overpowered with a 4.5. The board has a very big range on both ends. I even enjoy using it with a 5.8. I especially like sailing it in overpowered conditions with the twin fin setup.